Norfolk dad meets PM in effort to get suicide prevention lessons in schools
Tim Owen from 'Three Dads Walking' has been raising money for the charity Papyrus since losing his daughter in spring 2020.
A Norfolk dad has been at 10 Downing Street today, urging the Prime Minister to support a campaign to get suicide prevention on the school curriculum.
Tim Owen from 'Three Dads Walking' has been raising money for the charity Papyrus since losing his daughter in spring 2020.
With a petition, created by the group, being debated by MPs last month- after reaching 160 thousand signatures
Three Dads Walking', also took on a 600 mile long trek in 30 days last October, all to raise awareness of suicide.
"You feel like it hasn't happened to anyone else, but it has"
Tim lost his daughter Emily in March 2020.
He told us why he wants to see the change:
"People are going through some really tough times and sometimes those people need support. When you lose somebody to suicide, you feel totally on your own and like an island.
"You feel like it hasn't happened to anyone else, but it has. There's over six thousand suicides a year in the UK and each one of those suicides affects 135 people- that means that around 1 million people are affected by suicide a year".
"We had no idea that suicide was such a big issue"
"When we lost Emily nearly three years ago, we had no idea that suicide was such a big issue across the country, and that people wouldn't talk about suicide and suicide prevention.
"If it's the biggest risk to our young people, we need to start talking about it and giving young people the tools they need to deal with it...
"Around two hundred school children lose their lives every year, yet we're not equipping our young people and children to deal with those negative thoughts.
"All we're asking is that suicide prevention is put into the curriculum to deal with that."